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Overwhelming Majority is an experimental documentary dealing with issues of alienation, isolation, and social anxiety. I remember my teacher Jane sending me this article when I was making the film and being very intrigued by that aspect, something I’d never considered. OM has been screening at film festivals for the last year and a half, but in light of recent events like Las Vegas, perhaps it’s time to be seen by the rest of the world.

WINNER: Best Experimental film – 2016 Blissfest333
WINNER: Best Experimental film – 2016 UCCS Short Film Festival
NOMINATION: Best Experimental film – 2017 Wales International Film Festival
NOMINATION: Best Documentary Short – 2016 Blissfest333

Well, what’s one to do when Kodak pushes back the release date for the new super 8 camera(again), and raises the price by 166%? Go to their bitter rivals! The Fujica ZC1000 was the top of the line single-8 camera back in the late-’70s which makes it a contender for the best small format camera ever. It has many die-hard fans (especially in Spain, it seems) who consider Fuji’s cartridge design to be superior to Kodak’s in image stability.

The ZC1000 is among the most full-featured cameras available in the 8mm format, fully the equal of the Beaulieu super 8 cameras (and more robust in construction, it’s said) so comparing the specs to the new Kodak camera, it holds up quite well, only wanting crystal sync and a max8 film gate. On the plus side it has a greater range of framerates, from 12-72fps, plus single frame (and can connect to an intervalometer), and I do prefer having all controls as easily-manipulable dials and buttons, not jogwheels and menus, with an optical viewfinder. And if you do want video assist, it’s possible.

There is a downside, of course: with Fuji no longer making single-8 film, we’re left with using long-expired cartridges, cut-down 35mm reversal stocks from Retro8 in Japan, or reloading your own cartridges with Kodak super 8 film. At least we have that option, and that the Fuji cartridges were designed to be reusable! I don’t know how much trouble this is going to be, but I do admire the people who are keeping the single-8 format alive any way possible, and willing to give this a go myself.

As excited as I was about the new Kodak camera, I’ll wait until it’s close to its originally-advertised price of $750 and skip the $2000 ‘limited edition’ version coming out in a few months. And when I do have the new Kodak super 8, it should fit in nicely to my c-mount/8mm system I’m building here. The Fujinon zoom lens is very highly-regarded, up there with the best Schneider and Angenieux zooms you find on the Beaulieus. I’m sure the Fujinon will look great attached to the new Kodak camera…sacrilege perhaps, so I might as well go all the way and shoot some Fuji Provia super 8 film.

As well, I picked up the 10mm Kern Switar built for the Bolex cameras, and I hope to add a few more to that collection as well. That Switar, incidentally, like the favorable opinions of the ZC1000 itself, came from Spain, from a filmmaker with whom I’ve become friends (This short film was shot with my lens on a ZC1000). I found a British seller on eBay selling the single-8 cartridges and bought the entire stock. The camera itself was, strangely enough, in Northeastern Colorado! It was a 3-hour drive there, I tested out the camera for half an hour, then drove all the way back. Even factoring in the gas money I’m quite happy with what I paid, and now have a great 8mm setup to make the leap from still photography to motion pictures. It’s my goal to shoot my next film with this camera, and hopefully many after it as well.

Because there is a God. Having kept up with Facebook communities, I know how much demand there was for this, so I’m happy that it’s finally happening. Kodak Ektachrome will be coming back to motion picture and still photography. I’m so happy I’ll be able to shoot this film in a year or so. Read the official press announcement here:

I remember hearing an interview with Jeff Clarke where he said that Kodak wanted to bring back Ektachrome, but had to choose between that and the new super 8 camera, as to which one first. Well, it seems that we didn’t have long to wait after all. A year from now, we’ll be shooting brand new Kodak Ektachrome.

Great tagline, makes me swell with pride, so good going, Kodak. It’s time to be done with digital perfection. Here’s some new footage from the new prototype super 8 camera, right from Kodak’s new Youtube channel:

Merry Christmas to me. Except for the part where it isn’t out yet, because its release has been pushed back to Spring 2017…the wait is interminable. But so much for not posting in December, I found time after all! And speaking of Christmas presents, if you haven’t been keeping up with the progress Ferrania is making, check out the brand new image from their first coating test:http://www.filmferrania.it/news/2016/firsts
There is a future, faith manages. Merry Christmas.

Well, since January when the camera was first announced, they’ve managed to make at least one improvement…sort of…I just happened to be browsing Kodak’s super 8 site and noticed it.

Instead of speeds of 9, 12, 18, 24, and 25fps (as originally announced), it will now have 18, 24, 25, and 36fps. We’re getting slow motion, is the “glass half full” reading. Of course we’re also losing the two lowest framerates, so there are actually less options now. Will there be firmware updates in the future to add more framerates? What about single frame speed, and timelapse? While it’s a step in the right direction, I don’t understand why Kodak doesn’t work more toward making all other super 8 cameras obsolete. Here are a list of features cameras had 35 years ago that make them still desirable:
-single frame advance and timelapse features (already mentioned)
-72fps
-constantly variable framerate
-variable shutter angle
-physical, manipulable buttons and dials
-optical viewfinder

I suppose those last two are in some ways considered outdated, but it seems to me that without them, it’ll be like the difference between shooting a modern DSLR and my old Spotmatic. And I know which way I’d prefer to work. We also still don’t know how quiet the camera will end up being. Will we be able to shoot sync sound without requiring a blimp of some sort? Will that be another accessory, like the handgrip?

Another thing on the wish list for me? New lenses. I want an American-made Kodak Cine-Ektar 12.5mm f/0.95 macro lens in C-mount. And I don’t want to spend more than $700 for it. Might as well dream big, hmmm?

Not that there’s enough to tell anything for sure right now, but I doubt that Kodak would refer to a 2-year-old failed cell phone as a classic, when releasing another one (except if it’s a Nokia). Now a super 8 camera, on the other hand…

(picture not mine)

(That announcement’s all over their website also)

The article mentioned the new phone as an aside, then went into an overview of Kodak’s recent history, and mentioned this Kodak tweet in the middle of talking about the upcoming super 8 camera. But looking at pictures of the prototype, I don’t see how it can correspond. October 20. I’ll try not to get my hopes up too much in the next week, but it’ll be hard…